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What do y'all think of this?

I was out side today experimenting with the PeaPod, using a line/pulley attached to the end to make fine adjustments. BTW, I am getting much better at arriving at an almost zero gap on the bottom while maintaining full loft. But I digress.

Yesterday, because we have had so much rain with a lot more on the way and now I'm playing with down, I took down my Mac Cat Dlx and put up my HH Sil Hex, 19 oz with a 12 foot ridge line, by (I think) 11 feet wide.

I decided I would see what kind of storm pitch could be done with this non cat tarp, which so far is OK, but not fantastic, in the wind.

Here is the over all coverage, hanging over a Speer 8.5 wrapped in a PeaPodIII. Even with some more sag when weighted, coverage would be excellent on the sides. But keep in mind that this PeaPod is hung with almost a foot more sag than the hammock ( 10-12" lower at the inner surface of the pod than at the low point than the hammock) plus several inches of loft. Strangely to me, when I weight the hammock, the pod does not sag all that much more and the hammock sags down 6" to 1 foot, to just barely make contact with the pods upper/inner surface. But, either way, it looks like there is plenty of side coverage for wind driven rain. Also, notice to the left I have NOT hung the tarp higher than the hammock, though I would in the field.

This next shot is the foot end pitched in what I'm calling a "moderate" storm pitch. Excellent coverage, probably for even more than moderate storms.

This last shot is what I'm calling "severe" storm pitch, AKA the well known "Noah's pitch"! OK. I probably over did it a bit here, cause I was too lazy to move my stakes again. So I just crossed the lines over. But, as you can see, if you want to block rain or wind from coming in the ends, this tarp should be pretty effective.

That's would work and I have tried it before, but the only downfall that if you have any condensation under the tarp, you and your gear will get wet . It can also cause some compression on the sides of your under quilt, depending on how diagonally you lay in your hammock.

“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." -Terry Pratchett

I'm just glad I'm not the only one using those cheap yellow stakes from Walmart!

I would be worried about getting wet in the 'extreme' pitch. I know when my back brushes against the inside of the tarp after a solid night of rain, it gets damp. But, I suppose 'damp' is leaps and bounds better than sopping wet. It is a pretty neat idea just crossing the lines like that!

That is similar to a Clark in storm mode. You will have condensation but I could live with it in the Clark because of the bug net catching any drips. It did not work as well with the UQ though because the UQ acted like a big sponge that caught the condensation as it came down the inside of the tarp.

I have a Speer hammock and I never have that much sag. That seems like a lot of sag to me. Is that normal??

For some reason, I have had to hang this much sag in my Speer to approach the comfort of my HH. But you remind me that I want to experiment, once again, to see if I can hang with less hang and be comfortable. I particularly have a hard time using the Speer as a chair without a lot of sag. The less sag, the more the edges want to "cut" into my legs.

So yeah, there is a lot of sag, maybe more than usual. BUT, the PeaPod is hung with even more sag than the hammock, and that is really what you mostly see in this picture.

That's would work and I have tried it before, but the only downfall that if you have any condensation under the tarp, you and your gear will get wet . It can also cause some compression on the sides of your under quilt, depending on how diagonally you lay in your hammock.

Yeah, I even have some trouble with that with a wider pitch. On my recent cold sleep outs ( 10 and 24 degrees), when I would get in and out, the frozen condensation would "snow" on my bed. But, I still managed to stay dry enough.

I would only use such a setup if I was in or expected a wind blown a deluge, where I would rather take a chance on condensation on the DWR of the pod, than on the rain or snow. Or, maybe to block a really icy wind. And even then, probably only on the windward side.

But I think it would work really great with my HH SS, with the bottom entry and netting/over cover and sil nylon Undercover.

I like a lot of sag like that, too. Last week I tried hanging with less sag just to see if anything has changed...nope, still like lots of sag. Just me...do what feels good!

“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall when the wise are banished from the public councils because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.” ~Judge Joseph Story